In my education and search of different LED lights I have noticed that I have reached a point where I gravitate to lights with certain beam patterns and output levels. These are the lights that I reach for first when I need a flashlight. My first quality light was an Olight M20s and I thought it was the best there was. At the time, it was the best that I had ever used. In searching for other lights that gave me more throw I finally reached a point and found a light that satisfied my thirst for throw and I no longer needed more. This was when I bought my Olight M3X. Yes I know there are lights that throw farther but I really don't need more than I get from my M3X. I started buying other lights with different form factors, battery configurations, beam patterns, UI, and quality. When I bought my Shiningbeam Blaze, I had found a light that gave me a good combination of throw, lumens, beam pattern, battery life and size. The Blaze will do just about anything I will ever need a light to do. The exception was the need for headlamps which is a whole other story.
Using the Blaze as my standard, I started finding lights that had similar beam pattern and brightness output. I now have a few with very similar that all will do just about what the Blaze does. Yes quality does come into play and some of these lights are of lesser quality and will probably not hold up in the long run as well as the Blaze will. Generally speaking as the price increases, so does the quality. Quality aside, I will list these lights that show similar output.
Shiningbeam Blaze. Listed at 720 lumens. Three modes plus strobe. $56 at Shiningbeam.com (out of stock and Bryan is awaiting a new shipment of what he calls the new and improved Blaze)
Jetbeam PA40. AA light that uses 4 batteries. Beam pattern and throw is very similar to the Blaze. Doesn't tailstand. Good battery life and 4 useful modes. Body made of carbon fiber composite which doesn't feel as cold in the hand. Larger and heavier than the Blaze but feels good in the hand. More expensive at around $78 but well worth it IMHO. This is a really nice/useful light.
Now for some lights that have surprised me. These are what I call budget lights although some will think differently.
Citipower X3-T6 and X5-T6. These lights have the XM-L and were very inexpensive. I bought them both off ebay for less than $12 shipped. Both the X3 and X5 are very similar in size and weight. Output is very similar. They are listed at 1000 lumens but I know that's high. 5 modes including SOS and strobe. These are nice lights for the money but you can tell the quality isn't up to the more expensive lights.
This next light is becoming one of my favorites and actually surpasses the Blaze in brightness and throw. It's a little larger than the Blaze but weighs about the same. I got it from Shiningbeam for under $30 shipped. Only two modes. Shiningbeam has the newer model in stock which is supposed to be brighter and throw better and has a lower low mode. This light is available from China with 5 modes.
Romisen RC-T601.
This light is similar to the Romisen but not quite as bright and it throws slightly less.
Ciipower X7-T6. I paid $20 shipped from ebay. The quality doesn't feel as good as the Romisen but it does have 5 modes if you count the 3 blinkys. I have another light coming from ebay that is made by Ultrafire that looks to be this same light. We will see when it arrives.
Now for the biggest surprise.
This is a light that arrived yesterday and I got to test it out last night. Ultrafire UF-T50. All I can say is WOW! I really didn't know what to expect but testing it out last night I could have swore I was looking at the Blaze beam pattern. It's so close I'm not sure I can tell the difference at a distance of 40 feet or more. Up close it has a larger bright hot spot which isn't as well defined as the Blaze. It's a very small light. The same length of my Shiningbeam S-mini. About the same size diameter of my Citipower X3 and X5 but about an inch shorter. A powerful magnet in the tail which will hold it securely to any steel surface. Side button which ramps from high to low by holding the button down when the light is on. Memory of last brightness setting. Because of it's small size, I'm not wanting to keep it on its highest setting for longer than 5 minutes because it does get hot but by just ramping it down a little, it solves the heat problem. This light is $43 from Manafont shipped. I'm going to buy a few more of these for gifts.
There you have it. I look forward to comments from you people as I'm always looking for other great lights.
EDIT: I went to the Post Office and my UltraFire C8 arrived. It looks to be identical to my Citipower X7 but it's tint is a little warmer.